Food is where you find it – – urban foraging

I started trying to eat oatmeal for breakfast on a regular basis. The thing is I really like apples in my maple and brown sugar oatmeal. Now I know you wondering what does this have to do with urban foraging. Well nothing really other than while walking Layla the other day I came upon some apples in a public park. Thinking these the ornamental variety I started to pass over them. But I couldn’t. I had to know. So I cut into one and it was very tasty !! So I gathered up six of the ones that were not obviously damaged and finished walking Layla.These six little apples provided almost a full cup of diced apples for my oatmeal.

Yes I did throw away about 20% of the harvest. But since these were ground harvested I didn’t think that too bad a yield. They cooked down nicely and were very flavorful in the oatmeal.

The lesson here is always be aware of your environment it may hold the things you need at that moment. Did I already have apples? Well yes but somehow these that were nature’s gift were better.I really want to make the point that readiness is so much a state of mind that you carry with you daily. It’s not about “gear” and “stuff”, it is about knowledge and experience. If you don’t take the time learn and then go put that knowledge to the test all the gear/stuff piled around you is simply something to weigh you down.Is getting one freebie while walking in the park a big deal, well you tell me. How many other people tapped into that resource? How many other people even SAW that as a resource? Do you think I’ll go back in a day or two?

I know some of you are into the whole “prepper, end of time, civil unrest, collapse of government” sort of thinking. I think that there are so many other things that can change your lives in a moment that really do happen to everyday people. Loss of job, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, injury, illness, are just a few calamities that every day befall people. While it is good to build your resources in the form of emergency supplies (we’ve all seen milk/bread vanish at the mention of snow) let’s continue to share knowledge and experiences.

I started the Facebook blog Dan Cordray Readiness Resources to share ideas about being ready in life. But since Facebook changes they way they act, I’ll be posting those ideas here along with the adventures Layla and I find.